Iraq Searches Syrian Plane Heading to Syria, No Weapons Found

After searching three Iranian planes last week that were heading to Syria, the Iraqi government has announced a new first today, searching a Syrian civilian airplane returning from Moscow to the capital city of Damascus.

What wasn’t a first is the results, however, as officials say that once again, they found absolutely no weapons or any banned materials on board the plane. So far they haven’t found anything on any searched planes.

The searches are Iraq’s response to repeated US demands to stop “arms flow” into Syria, and indeed Secretary of State John Kerry demanded that Iraq ban all of Iran’s flights from their airspace.

Iraq refused the bannings, citing lack of evidence, but did agree to a new round of searches. Since those are turning up nothing, it will add pressure on Iraq to scrap them entirely, but will likely also fuel US anger at their lack of progress.